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Phineas and Ferb Wiki:Newsletter submissions/Summer Belongs to This Review(?)
Whoa boy. Was that awesome or what? Season 2's a strong (and ridiculously long) season for the series that's hit a few speed bumps along the way, but man was this just about one of the greatest episode Phineas and Ferb has ever blessed us (me) with on our fabulously non-HD TV sets. In the special, one-hour episode "Summer Belongs to You," Phineas and Ferb make it their quest to pull a Around the World In 80 Days without the Jackie Chan (and in one day of course) on the day of Summer Solstice, aka the longest day of the year. And to craft this superb adventure, the entire stinkin' writing staff and then some collaborated to put up some of the single funniest jokes in both the show, and modern animation. Am I exaggerating? NO. Literally every joke in this episode works on so many levels. I could list just about every other line in the episode when I praise this bad boy for its superb jokes and gags, but I'll stick to what has made me laugh harder than just about anything in this whole dang show: "YOU'RE WATCHING TELEVISION". As pictured, this gag features the boys trying to make a visual gag, when a fake TV bug glides onto the screen, and Phineas looks at it and yells at it for having interrupted the show. Try topping that, modern children's animation—you can't! This satirical, edgy, fourth-wall-breaking, take-that-y gag is so brilliant I can't fathom it even exists! Is it the best in the whole show? Probably, but it will definitely face competition from the equally wondrous CSI: Miami gag in "Finding Mary McGuffin". Of extra note is the surprisingly amazing throwaway joke about the two sailors, who have officially the best line in the whole show. Bravo, guys. Bravo. Everything in this episode works—the writing, the jokes, the animation...Oh, the animation!! Man, is it awesome in this episode. Dan Povenmire and Robert F. Hughes finally return to helm an episode as only they brilliantly can. Povenmire alone is perhaps the single greatest animation director I've ever witnessed (don't worry, I'm not forgetting about you, Lauren MacCullan and Joaquim Dos Santos, ya wacky Avatar alumni) and he's definitely at the top of his game this episode. Every scene is drawn and angled brilliantly, and the large-scale, grand plane scenes are just marvelous to witness. And then there's the scenery, which is simply gorgeously designed. The voice acting too is amazing, better than most episodes even. Of special mention is Vincent Martella, who has really just perfected Phineas and delivers every one of his line in such brilliant fashion. This is probably the most emotional we've ever heard Phineas before, and Martella is able to throw it at us with such emotion and such believability. Also, just about every speaking background characters was voiced by either Dan or Swampy, and their range is truly shining because of this. Not to mention their performances as their normal characters...Seriously, get these Godforsaken voice actors an Emmy already! There's some fantastic music as well, as expected. I'm a bit surprised (and kind of saddened) that they never worked in The Ballad of Klimpaloon, but at least we still got to witness the hysterical, already-memetic old timey bathing suit in the, er, fabric with his also hysterical and memetic "NANG NANG NANG" catch phrase. Speaking of memes, one great song that got me in hysterics was "J-Pop (Welcome to Tokyo)", which spoofed the CarmelDansen video meme and better than the actual meme itself. And to everyone on YouTube that said this song ruined CarmelDansen: Die in a ditch, kthx. CarmelDansen was an irritating meme anyways. But at least this show knew how to make it entertaining, and bless them for it. Oh, and while the eponymous climactic number was unbearably cheesy and High School Musical-level "Believe in yourself~!" material, I loved it to death. And so did you. Characters' interaction with other characters are handled superbly throughout. We get some development with the the dysfunctional and brilliantly diabolical relationship between father and daughter Doof and Vanessa, as well as the tease-filled but actually entertaining relationship between Phineas and Isabella, which actually gave us "City of Love", sung awesomely by Alyson Stoner. Plus, Buford was given a lot more screen time than usual, and with it brought us some interesting (and very funny) new details about him and his wide range of talents. I can't really say much more about this special without getting redundant, but rest-assured it was one of the funniest animated TV hours of the past few years. Man, Phineas and Ferb—this is why I love you so. A+ Agree with this review? Disagree? Can't really decide? Let us know on our talk page. Summer_Belongs_to_This_Review(%3F)